


It’s Back to Ash (Now You’ve Had Your Flash, Boy)

by Chaosprincess, SegaBarrett



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Gen, Ghosts, Post-Innuendo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 09:17:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17805293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaosprincess/pseuds/Chaosprincess, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SegaBarrett/pseuds/SegaBarrett
Summary: Freddie has an unexpected visitor.





	It’s Back to Ash (Now You’ve Had Your Flash, Boy)

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t know or own any of these guys. 
> 
> A/N: Title and referenced song are “Anyway” by Genesis. Also, my information on Zoroastrianism is just what I gleaned from the ‘net so I may be wrong.

Waiting. All his life, Freddie Mercury had absolutely hated waiting, especially for things that he didn’t like. 

These last few weeks had felt like nothing but waiting. 

He had the television on and he was flicking through the channels, avoiding the news as well as possible and stumbling upon a Pop Quiz rerun.  
Suddenly, the phone rang. Freddie scooped it up and placed it to his ear.

“Hello?” he asked. 

“FREDDIE!” yelled a voice on the other end. After a moment, he recognized it, with some dread, as Paul Prenter’s. He would have hung up, but there was something in the voice. Not regret, not desperation, but sheer terror.

“Trixie?” Freddie asked. 

“HELP ME!” he heard Paul exclaim, followed by the sound of what Freddie could have sworn were hoofbeats in the background. Freddie sat further up with a start.

“Paul? What’s going on?” 

As much as he had sworn he would never talk to Paul Prenter again, the panic in his voice had him worried. He might be furious at the man, but he would never want him hurt.

“HELP!” Paul screamed again, and then Freddie only heard the memetic blip of the dial tone.  
Freddie picked up the phone and dialed the downstairs extension, to where Jim would hear it ring if he was out in the garden. 

He picked up on the second ring.

“Jim! Tell Terry to get the car. I need to go to Paul’s right away.”

“Freddie… I was just going to call…”

“We need to get over to Paul’s right away,” Freddie repeated. 

“Freddie, you’re too late.” Freddie pulled back the phone a second and stared at it, not understanding. 

“But I just got a call from him,” he protested. 

“You must have been half-asleep, Freddie. He passed earlier this evening. I just found out myself and I didn’t want to wake you…”

“But it was right on the phone, darling.”

“Freddie, they’ve unplugged him and everything. I’d take you to see him, but there’s nothing to see right now.”

“You’re right, dear. I must have just been dreaming.” Freddie hung up impatiently and dialed Paul’s number. The line continued to ring with no answer. Freddie hung up. “Fuck,” he mumbled. 

He heard a knock on the door from downstairs and started, hurrying downstairs with his leg giving him only a few moments of difficulty. He stood in front of the door, listening to the knocking continue, loud and desperate. Freddie opened the door, swallowing. 

He could hear what he swore was the sound of galloping, but couldn’t see anyone standing there.

“FREDDIE!” exclaimed a voice behind him, and Freddie whirled around to see Paul Prenter staring at him, eyes wide and terrorized. “CLOSE THE DOOR!”

The door slammed shut and locked of its own accord. 

“What are you doing here?” Freddie asked.

“They’re coming for me, Freddie! They’re coming!”

“Paul, who’s coming? What’s going on?”

“They’re coming to take me to Hell. Fred!” Paul reached out, gripping Freddie’s shirt so hard that he could feel his neck bend. 

Freddie reached out to grip Paul around his middle.

“They’re not. They’re not, okay?”

“THEY ARE! I made the wrong choice. I shouldn’t have sold you out! I should have warned you about…”

“It’s okay, Paul. It’s okay – just breathe, all right. Just breathe.”

“I CAN’T BREATHE! I HAVE NO LUNGS!”

The house began to shake.

“Shit…” Paul hit the floor, covering his head. 

“Just be calm, okay. Be calm.” Freddie reached down to put a gentle hand on his back. “It’s okay.”

“I’m going to Hell, Freddie! I’m scum! I’m shit!”

“You just made a bad decision, okay? I forgive you – does that help? I forgive you.” Freddie moved to crouch in front of him, placing a knee on the floor and then gently kissing Paul’s forehead. “Don’t be scared.”

“You forgive me?”

“I do… And you know what else?”

“What?”

“In my religion… if you do bad things, you just have to go back and get born all over again and try again. That doesn’t sound too scary, does it?”

“I get a do-over?”

“That’s all, Paul. Just a do-over.” Freddie thought to himself that he’d never talked this comfortably, or at all, about Zoroastrianism for as long as he could remember. Paul probably hadn’t even heard of it. 

Paul began to sob against Freddie’s chest. 

“No fiery lake?”

Freddie saw, for the first time, the hate in Paul Prenter’s eyes that he had for himself. Maybe he always had.

“No fiery lake. No pain. Just waking up in someone’s arms and you’re the most important person in their lives.”

Freddie figured now would not be the time to tell Paul that Mary was pregnant.

“Thank you… I…. thank you…” Paul whispered.  
There was a knock on the door, and both men looked up. 

“It’s okay… let me sing you something. I haven’t finished recording it. Lay right here in my arms, okay?” Freddie said quickly, watching as Paul slumped back. He looked like he had given up fighting. He sang softly, trying not to think about it, “My body’s aching but I can’t sleep… My dreams are all the company I keep… Got such a feeling as the sun goes down… I’m coming home to my sweet… mother love…”

Paul continued to cry against Freddie’s chest.

“So beautiful…”

“You really like it?” Freddie chuckled. “Wrote it for Mary again…” 

Paul looked up at him and curled his lips in a small smile.

“She really is the love of your life…”

“One of them,” Freddie replied, stroking his hair. “You’ll have one too. One at least.”

The door creaked open of its own accord, and the two men exchanged glances.

“Is it time?” Paul asked quietly.

“I think it is. I’ll walk you out, okay? Don’t be frightened.” Freddie reached out to clasp Paul’s hand in his, slowly walking out the door. “Well… ‘They say she comes on a pale horse, but I’m sure I hear a train…’ That’s Genesis.” They stood on the front step and Freddie leaned in, to kiss Paul’s forehead. “I think I’ll be seeing you soon.”

“Goodbye, Freddie.” Paul slowly let go of his hand.

“Goodbye, Trixie.” Freddie watched as Paul Prenter slowly faded before him. He stuck his hands into his pockets and let out a sigh. 

“Freddie, what are you doing outside?”

Freddie turned to see Jim standing behind him, looking concerned. 

“Oh, it was nothing, darling,” Freddie told him. “I was just… thinking.”

“I’m sorry about Paul.”

Freddie didn’t know what to say. 

“Yeah,” he settled on, stepping in and pulling the door shut. “Let’s go back to bed.”


End file.
